Would You Rather
by xBrokenRecordx
Summary: Someone once asked her where she would rather live; Sunagakure or Konohagakure. She peeked over the woman's shoulder to look at her eldest children playing on the floor. "Why Konoha of course!"


She was once asked where she would rather live; Sunagakure or Konohagakure. She had peeked over the woman's shoulder to look at her two eldest children playing on the floor. Then she put a hand to her swelling belly and laughed.

"Why Konoha of course!" Her eyes had then darted over to where her husband lay, draped on top of the couch like a blanket. In his arm was a little blond haired girl with her hair in a pineapple shaped ponytail. Her mouth was open and her head was tossed back in such a way, that if the girl was older, a male, and had black hair, you would have mistaken her for her father.

"After all, Konoha is where I met the love of my life." Then she snapped her head back towards the woman who had asked her. "Don't you dare tell him I said that or I'll slice you to bits with my fan!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" The woman had stuttered back.

When her eldest children were seven and eight years old, she was pursued by them.

"Mum, where would you rather live; Suna or Konoha?" Her second born, Ayumi, asked.

"We all know how much you love Uncle Kankuro and Uncle Gaara." Her first born, Asuma, started. "Why not stay in Suna near them instead of marrying dad and staying here?" He had asked this right after his sister was finished speaking.

"Why become a Nara when you could have stayed a Sabaku?" Ayumi and Asuma added in perfect unison. Sometimes, those two were so much like alike that you could have mistaken them for twins. It would seriously scare someone.

Temari didn't know what to make of her children's interrogation. She supposed she should just tell them the truth. As long as they didn't go spouting off anything to their lazy ass father.

"Asuma, Ayumi." She looked down at her children pointedly before saying, "I do love my brothers very dearly. But I honestly prefer to live here in Konoha than my birthplace(to be honest, I'm glad I'm away from that big sand box). I've made so many friends here. And." She paused for effect. "It was at the Chuunin exams that I met your father."

"Really?" The two children asked in awe. They were young ninja at the Academy, of course they would be interested in anything that involved something ninja-like, even if it included a mushy romance story.

"Oh yeah." Temari continued. "At first, I thought your father was a stupid, talentless, lazy ass. But he's really intelligent and witty, your father." She paused briefly. "Actually he's still a lazy ass."

"But mum!" Ayumi whined. "You didn't answer our last question!"

"Why become a Nara when you could have stayed a Sabaku?" Asuma finished for his sister. Temari took a short moment to think.

"Why? Because I love your father more than anything else in the world (except family and friends of course; but I'd be quicker to save Shika's like then Tenten's). If what we have hadn't worked in the first place, not only would you guys never have existed, but my heart would have been broken for all eternity and no other man could mend it. Nara Shikamaru is my heart and soul." She wasn't nearly this mushy-like other girls were (take her sister-in-laws Ino and Sakura for example) were. Pouring her heart out to her children was starting to make her feel awkward.

Asuma nodded to his sister and they dashed out of the room, each yelling a "Thanks mum!" as the left.

Unbeknownst to Temari, Shikamaru leaned against the kitchen doorway. As he took his ear away from the door and smiled; a beautifully genuine smile. His chakra was hidden so his wife couldn't detect him there. He turned around and walked away. He loved her that much, too.

He was the first of the two of them to leave. For weeks now she knew it had been coming. Her heart knew it, at least. He brain refused to accept it. So when the nurse came out of his hospital room with sad eyes, she immediately burst through the door.

Aged sixty seven on September 27th, Nara Shikamaru had minutes to live.

"No. Please, Shika. Please don't…" Temari whined, hot tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She cupped her dying husband's cheek to which he grabbed.

"Tema." He said, albeit a bit raspy from not drinking much of anything the last few days. "Did you really mean it?" A tear trickled down her cheek and rested at the bottom of her chin. With her other hand, she wiped it away. She forced a weak laugh.

"What are you talking about, Shika?" She choked out.

"When you told Asuma and Ayumi that you loved me more than anything in the world. That if what we had never worked, you'd be broken for all eternity, never to be mended?"

"My heart is breaking just seeing you here, Shika." Temari wept.

"Troublesome woman…" He muttered. "_Did you mean it?"_ She forced another choked laugh.

"Of course I did you big Cry Baby."

"The feeling is forever mutual." He lay his hand on atop where hers rested on his cheek. "I'll see you in the afterlife." He closed his eyes and opened his mouth to say one last thing, "I love you, Nara Temari." And he left her with a smile on his face. She collapsed on top of his body, her own shaking from all the crying.

Three years later, she lays in bed, recollecting her memories. A large majority of them included her, Shikamaru, her children, her brothers and sister-in-laws, he son- and daughter-in-laws, and her grandchildren.

Since Shikamaru's death, she spent a great deal of her time with her eldest-Asuma- and her third born-Tsubaki. They were both almost identical in both looks and personality to their father. She felt she needed to be close to them.

Each of her children-Asuma, Ayumi, Tsubaki, and the twins Kaoru and Mikan- had grown up, gotten married, and had their own children. Asuma and his wife and Tsubaki and her husband often came by with their children to see her. She was to be expecting them soon.

But Temari just _knew_ that she wasn't going to get out of bed this morning. She knew her time on earth was about come to an end. So with one last smile, she closed her folded her hands atop her chest.

"I'll see you soon, Shika, you big Cry Baby…"

Fifteen minutes later, knocking could be heard. The visitors got no reply. A woman in her mid-thirties was starting to get very nervous.

"Asuma…do you think maybe…?" She trailed off, unable to say more. Not in front of her children and nieces and nephews. Heck, she couldn't even finish her thought. The black haired man with a pineapple shaped ponytail shook his head.

"Quite possibly." He replied sadly to the blond haired woman who, too, had her hair up in a pineapple shaped ponytail.

Nara Sachiko (nee Uzumaki) put a hand on her sister-in-law's shoulder. "May I?" She asked. The blink of her eyes was all that Tsubaki needed to know what Sachiko was asking to do.

"Please. Go right ahead." Tsubaki replied, stepping aside, though she knew she didn't have to. The Byakugan could see through anything.

"Mum?" Tsubaki's fourteen year old son, Tsubasa, said. Tsubaki turned towards him. "What's wrong?"

"Byakugan!" Sachiko said.

"Aunt Tsubaki!" A sixteen year old girl addressed the woman. "You don't seriously think…?" Tsubaki nodded her head at the girl. Her niece was very intelligent, like her grandmother and very strategic like her grandfather.

"I do, Maka-chan."

"Her chakra signature…." Sachiko gasped. "It's gone!"

The door was broken down in a matter of seconds and Asuma and Tsubaki ran through the house.

**o0o0o0o0o0o**

The first person she saw was _him_. She cried out in joy, tears trailing down her face as she ran up to him and pounced on his back. It took her several seconds to realize that all physical pain she had felt when alive was gone. In fact, she felt like a teenager again.

"Oi…troublesome woman…" He muttered, taking ahold of the underside of her legs so it looked as if he were giving her a piggy back ride.

"That's no way to greet me after I haven't seen you for three years, Cry Baby." She chided.

"I swear…I'm going to drop you."

"Do that and you won't be able to stand for a week due to, ah, crotch issues."

"…Can I have my kiss already?" Instead of using words, she jumped off his back, spun him around, and slammed her lips to his.

"I missed you…" He muttered afterwards, taking a deep breath in.

"I missed you, too." She mumbled back before giving him another searing kiss.


End file.
